A meeting convened on Saturday, February 02, in the metropolitan Turkish province of Istanbul, has announced the upcoming start of an international campaign to respond to the US President Donald Trump’s Middle East peace plan, dubbed “the deal of the century”.
The meeting brought together a consortium of pro-Palestine NGOs and human rights organizations operating in the UK, Turkey, Jordan, Lebanon, and Palestine, along with other countries in Europe, Latin America, and the Middle East.
The event culminated in the launch of the largest popular international campaign aiming to thwart the “deal of the century” which the campaigners described as unilaterally pro-Israel and one which undermines Palestinians inalienable rights, particularly their right to return to their homeland.
The meeting, staged by the London-based Palestinian Return Centre (PRC), also underscored the need for a practical roadmap to thwart the US peace plan, protect the internationally-recognized rights of the Palestinian people, and block all attempts to have Palestinian refugees resettle in another destination but Palestine, along with key mechanisms to make those very ends come true.
The right of return refers to the right of Palestinian refugees to return to their homeland from which they have been expelled since 1948. It implies both first-generation refugees and their descendants, regardless of their place of birth or residence and their political, social, and economic condition.